Editorial: It's not worth it

Friday

Apr 30, 2010 at 12:01 AM

The discussion about drilling for oil off Florida's coast has changed dramatically, probably forever.

State Rep. Dean Cannon announced last week that he was tabling a bill that would allow oil drilling between 3 and 10 miles off the coast of Florida. When a reporter asked the Legislature's biggest drilling proponent if he planned to resurrect the bill next year — when the Winter Park Republican will be speaker of the Florida House — Cannon smirked coyly and said he not only planned to bring it back, he was confident it would win easy passage.The next day, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off of Louisiana, leaving 11 crew members missing and presumed dead and setting off an oil spill that has created an oil slick 80 miles across and is verging on becoming a major environmental and economic disaster.Cannon is no longer so confident, because the discussion about drilling for oil off Florida's coast has changed dramatically, probably forever.The "drill, baby, drill" crowd's arguments have all been debunked by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. They said new technology made the chances of an accident slim. Yet, the Deepwater Horizon was one of the most modern rigs. They said technological advances made containing any spill manageable. Yet, here we are, eight days after the rig exploded, 5,000 barrels of oil a day flow into the Gulf of Mexico, with no end or solution in sight. They said putting up oil rigs close to shore was nothing to worry about. Yet, the leak is 50 miles offshore and threatening four coastal states, including Florida.Florida has a $65 billion-a-year tourist industry that relies heavily on its beaches to lure visitors. Risking the fouling of those beaches is unthinkable.As the independent Collins Center for Public Policy noted, the Gulf's oil reserves are not big enough to lower fuel prices, or reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, but would threaten our beaches. Drilling off Florida shores and endangering our precious beaches is just not worth it.